The Escape of the Hitachiin's maid!
by Magicgirl29
Summary: AU: Hikaru and Kaoru are horrified when they learn that the maid who stolen from their family has returned. With the much needed support from their friends they slowly start to feel better, however, nothing could prepare them for what is about to happen!
1. The Escape of The Hitachiin's maid!

Haruhi opened the door to music room 3 and entered, she was in pretty early so she didn't expect to see any other members of the host club. However, she was surprised to see Hikaru and Kaoru sat on the windowsill, staring out of the glass at the morning beauty. She closed the door and the small 'click' sound echoed throughout the entire room. This alerted the Hitachiin brothers at once.

"Good morning." Said Haruhi approaching one of the couches. It was then she noticed that the twins hadn't responded with a crazy gesture or over enthusiastic greeting. She turned to face them and was astonished to find them still gazing, thoughtfully, out of the window. "Hikaru, Kaoru?" They turned to face her. Their usually joyful eyes had been replaced with sorrow and helplessness. Haruhi blinked in surprise. "Are you alright?"

"We're fine." They replied in perfect unison, however, Haruhi was not blind; it was clear that something was wrong. Without a word she moved closer to see a newspaper with a picture of an angry woman on it. The headline read: "THIEVING MAID ESCAPES!"

"You know this woman?" Haruhi said suddenly. The twins had a cold and hard glare- which shocked Haruhi- as they stared at the picture. Seemingly burning holes in it.

"She was the maid that stole from our family," Said Kaoru. Haruhi studied his face, searching it for emotion. "She was the only friend we had." Hikaru then continued.

"And she betrayed us. She said no-one would ever tell us apart. She is the reason we pushed everyone away. The reason we never experienced friendship, until now." Haruhi took in this new information and realised it made sense in a way. Though, Haruhi had never noticed this hidden secret and she didn't know that the reason they forced people away was because of betrayal by a- so called- friend. She saw sadness and hatred in the twins' eyes as they- once again- seemed to burn holes in the picture of the woman who hurt them. The twins turned away at the sound of opening doors, turning, Haruhi noticed the rest of the host club entering. Haruhi picked up the newspaper and when the other hosts caught her eye she dropped the paper on the table and sat down upon the couch.

"Haruhi?" Said Tamaki, eying her up with concern.

"Senpai." She said dismissively as Honey- Senpai took his seat beside her, hugging his bunny as usual. Tamaki looked down to see the newspaper and picked it up, reading it aloud. The more he read the more interested the others became and so stopped and listened.

"Thieving maid escapes." The others looked over and hung over his shoulder as he read. "The thieving maid, Miyu Suzuki, who had stolen from the Hitachiin family long ago, is reported to have escape after her imprisonment. She had managed to escape late last night..." After a while Haruhi stopped listening and looked over at the brothers, who were looking down into their laps. Apparently they were listening, and it was hard too. Haruhi had never really been betrayed before so she could not say she could relate, but this was much more. This woman is the reason that the twins had isolated themselves from others for so many years; had Tamaki not persuaded the twins they would have remained alone forever. They would still be lost souls.

"Oh, that is so sad!" Exclaimed Honey-senpai. He ran over to the twins and hugged Kaoru from behind, Kaoru jumped in shock but never the less he gave the elder boy a light squeeze on the arm. Turning to nod at him, forcing a smile. The room was silent for a minute when eventually Tamaki spoke up.

"I-I don't know what to say." For the first time since Haruhi had seen him, Tamaki really was at a loss for words. His eyes were focused on the twins; he chose his words carefully as though one wrong move would cause them to shatter before his eyes. Suddenly the twins turned and did something that no-one expect, they... Smiled.

"Don't worry, boss, it's no big deal." Said Kaoru. Haruhi raised an eyebrow; the twins were not very good actors, not when they were truly sad of course. She could see right through them, they were hurting. She could picture all the terribly lonely days and flashes of the maid leaving them after stealing from their parents, she felt awful that they felt awful.

"So err," Started Hikaru, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. "How's those albums coming along, Kyoya senpai?" Kyoya pulled out his usual black book and a pen; he scribbled something down first before pulling his pen away and reading the information.

"The stocks have had a 30% increase in the past two weeks." He said, matter-of-factly. The twins nodded, it was all too clear that they couldn't care less about the profits but they needed to do something to steer the conversation away from them.

"I know!" Piped up Honey- senpai suddenly. "Let's have some cake, I want strawberry. It is my favourite, what do you guys like?" Takashi picked up Honey-Senpai and took him over to a nearby table where some cakes were placed. For a short second Haruhi thought she saw a small, genuine, smile cross the twins' faces; only to be quickly replaced with a far off distant stare.

Tamaki went to the twins and they started talking, Haruhi couldn't hear but she could see Tamaki place a hand on Hikaru's shoulder as both the Hitachiin brothers lowered their heads. Not long after this Tamaki directed the twins over to some chairs nearby Honey- senpai and Mori-senpai. Haruhi noticed someone wasn't with the others and looked behind her to see Kyoya standing in front of one of the many pillars in the room, she approached him. His black book was tucked under his arm and his eyes were focused on the host club. His eyes held sympathy, sympathy for the twins.

"They sure seemed sad, guess I can't really blame them after what she did." Haruhi said as she too watched the others talk and eat. Like usual Kyoya did not face her but he still responded in mono tone like always.

"I wasn't aware you knew about the Hitachiin's old maid." He spoke flatly, Haruhi didn't avert her eyes.

"I wasn't, not until they told me once I arrived," She chose this point to look up at Kyoya. "Though, I don't fully understand the situation." Kyoya looked down at her and pushed his glasses higher up on his nose.

"How so?" Inquired Kyoya. Haruhi thought for a second, she thought about what the twins had already told her and then about just what she was trying to understand.

"Well... I can understand that she left them and told them no-one would tell them apart but... I don't understand why that would make them push everyone away." She waited for a moment, hoping her statement didn't sound as harsh as she thought it sounded. It could make perfect sense to the others and if she questioned that... She just didn't want to insult anyone.

"Well, Hikaru and Kaoru are known for being the twins that they are and for playing their childish game with the ladies and other members of the host club. A majority think this is just a harmless game but to them it's different, they want to be told apart because they want people to care enough about them to learn how to distinguish between the two."

"But what does that have to do with them pushing people away?"

"I was getting to that," Said Kyoya casually. "When the maid, who they thought was their friend, couldn't tell them apart and told them that no-one ever would be able too they started to believe that if they allowed people to become close then they would get hurt again. For the majority of their lives they only had each other, that is of course, until our dear king came along and stopped at nothing to be- friend them and bring them here. Finally they let their past go."

Haruhi took in this new information as she watched the host club talking in deep conversation, each one with nervous and forced smiles upon their faces. Her eyes wandered to the Hitachiin brothers and a dull pain hit her heart as she saw the hurt expression dripping the now dull eyes. She could only imagine how distraught the twins could be right now, hearing that woman had escaped must have brought back all the bad memories and bad feelings from when they were young and alone.

Suddenly a girlish sob was heard as Renge appeared out of nowhere on her large platform yet again. The host club looked irritated at her presence; as though she was not needed nor was she wanted at this moment in time. One thing that caught Haruhi's eye was the newspaper clutched in Renge's hands. There was a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach as she guessed why the host clubs manager was now here.

"Oh this is so tragic it really is!" She exclaimed as she waved the newspaper around and threw it to the floor by Mori-senpai's feet. "You two must be so very brave!" She said, looking at the twins before cupping her face in her hands and letting out a long wail and crying into her palms.

Mori-senpai looked down at the newspaper and kicked it away so the twins wouldn't have to look at it again. Kyoya walked towards Renge and looked up the platform at her.

"Renge, now is not a good time." Kyoya told her while Haruhi walked over to the rest of the host club and took the empty seat beside Hikaru. She put her hand on his arm and he looked up at her, muttering her name. Kaoru noticed and he too looked up to see her forcing a smile.

"How rude!" Yelled Renge as she climbed down from her platform and plopped herself down in the seat beside Kaoru and grabbed his arm, he looked at her- clearly alarmed- and tried to shrug her off, thought she wouldn't budge. "I am so sorry to hear about what happened, you must be so sad!" She rested her head on Kaoru's shoulder for a few minutes. Haruhi could see the twins' irritation so she spoke up.

"Renge, Kyoya's right, now isn't a good time." She forced a smile at her manager, who leapt from her seat and clinged to Haruhi's arm instead.

"It is tragic though, the whole Academy knows about it already. They're all asking about the twins, they really are!" The rest of the club turned, immediately, to face Renge. Everyone approached.

"Everyone?" Said Tamaki, nervously. Renge nodded quickly.

"Well what else do you expect? The maid of the Hitachiin family escapes after all these years! Who wouldn't that shock?" At that exact moment Hikaru jumped from his seat, his face flushed with anger as he fled the room.

"Hikaru!" Kaoru yelled at him as he turned to glare at Renge before he too left in the same manner of his brother.

"Hika-chan, Kao-chan!" Honey-senpai yelled and started to run towards the doors too, however, Takashi picked him up and said.

"Don't. Just let them go." Honey-senpai nodded and sat back down at the table. Haruhi watched Tamaki wave his arms in the air like a mad man while he argued with the manager. Out of sympathy for her friends, Haruhi slipped out of the room without being noticed. She walked down the corridor and winced every time someone would walk past, discussing the evil maid in the paper.

"Hikaru, slow down!" Haruhi ran to the end of the corridor as she heard Kaoru's voice echo throughout the large corridors. She caught a glimpse of someone running into a science room, she stopped outside the doors and pressed her ear against the wall, quickly shooing away anyone who stopped to ask her what she was doing.

_-In the Science room-_

Hikaru had his back firmly against the wall, his knees had been pulled close to his chest and his hands pulled at his ginger locks so tightly that his knuckles were going rapidly white. Kaoru approached, slowly, and put a hand on his brother's shoulder. This seemed to calm him.

"Hey," Said Kaoru as he pressed his back against the wall and slid down into the place next to Hikaru. "That was quite the exit." He said, forcing a laugh... And failing miserably. Hikaru was furious with the maid for what she put them through; this seemed like the perfect time for him to let out his anger.

"Well how else should I respond?" He blurted out suddenly, making Kaoru jump in surprise. "That evil old cow stole from our family and dropped that-that-that bombshell on us. She is the reason we had no friends until now!" Kaoru shouted his brother's name to make him stop yelling.

"Hikaru!" Hikaru stopped, his body shaking with sadness and anger. "I know, I went through it too, remember?" He said, lowering his head- apparently fascinated by his black school shoes. Hikaru felt like a jerk. Of course his brother had gone through this too and here he was acting like it was all about him.

"I'm sorry. You're right." He leaned back against a desk and slowly lowered himself to the floor. Head balancing on his chin.

"This is all our fault." Said Kaoru flatly. Hikaru looked up suddenly and stared at his twin with a puzzled look on his face. "We told her where the combination for the safe was, we should never have done that."

"We were kids, we didn't know any better. We just wanted someone to like us." Hikaru said flatly.

"Yeah, but that's no excuse. This could all have been avoided, but we were too careless... It seems the spell on the carriage is slowly breaking and turning back into that grubby old pumpkin again." Kaoru seemed to be talking more to himself rather than Hikaru now.

This theory was true, it all started off with the twins being all alone and lonely- forever focused on their sad past with the maid. However, once someone reached out just enough to them they were able to slowly slip away from their past and settle into a place of friendship, respect, love and care. They were considered family and were able to enjoy the comforts that came with friendship, they felt protected in a safe carriage which Tamaki had casted a spell on. With that spell cast then everything would remain as is and no matter what, no-one could separate them. Now, however, Kaoru's worst fear is being realised. The curse will break and this news of the old maid will swallow their happiness and no-one will understand, they would feel the need to isolate themselves and eventually they would become what they had been their whole childhood- sad kids fighting the world all alone as lost souls.

"I'm sorry, Kaoru, but what are you talking about." Hikaru had never noticed the spell and Kaoru suspected he would never understand it. Kaoru and Tamaki were the only ones aware of this spell, they could really relate. Even though the twins situation did not seem like much compared to the sad times the others went through, it really hurt the twins because they felt no-one would care enough to tell the difference. After so many years they had learned to convince themselves that anyone else in their lives would just let them down again... Because they were twins.

"Nothing, Hikaru, nothing."

_-In the corridor-_

Haruhi listened but by that last sentence it was clear that the twins weren't planning on talking more any time soon, it was quite clear to Haruhi that this maid had committed an immense crime because not only did the Hitachiin brothers blame themselves but, they almost felt sort of threatened by her.

"Haru-chan?" Haruhi turned around; Honey-senpai was stood behind her cuddling his small pink bunny to his chest. "Where are Hika-chan and Kao-chan?" Haruhi decided that the twins deserved some privacy but she didn't want to lie to Honey-senpai so she decided on what to say.

"They're in there, senpai," She said while pointing her thumb at the science room door behind her, she lowered her voice and bent down to Honey's level and whispered. "But I think we should leave them alone for a little while, it must have been a huge shock for them." Honey nodded and turned around, it was then that Haruhi noticed Takashi waiting by the windowsill. His face was completely devoid of any emotion so Haruhi could not clearly tell what he was thinking but she guessed he was the slightest bit sympathetic towards the Hitachiin brothers, being their friend and all.

"We should go to class. I will ask Tamaki to speak with your teacher." Takashi spoke in monotone and walked away down the corridor with Mitsukuni by his side. Haruhi watched them leave but turned back to the door; she knocked on it and said.

"Guys? It's time for class, are you coming?" There was a moments silence until Haruhi heard two sighs from beyond the door. It took a few moments but eventually the door opened, Haruhi figured they were about a minute late for class already. The twins stepped out and looked shocked to see her.

"You stayed to wait for us?" Said Hikaru, clearly surprised.

"Of course I did, we're buddies right?" A soft smile showed up on the brothers' faces, the smile suited them so very well but Haruhi knew they would need a lot of friendly support in order to deal with current events. "Come on, let's get to class." The twins nodded and followed Haruhi down the corridor and into their first lesson of the day.

_Coming up: The host club opens for business and the Hitachiin brothers find it hard to cope when the gossip is focused on the escape of the family maid. Tamaki shows his support for the brothers and Haruhi provides useful advice to Hikaru and Kaoru. _


	2. The Host Club Opens For Loneliness!

Later in the afternoon the host club was open for business, in class Haruhi and the twins ignored the whispers and strange looks from their classmates and the only time they did speak was when their teacher would call on them to ask a question about the current lessons. At the minute everyone was sat at their individual sofas in the room, they wore their usual clothes rather than doing any cosplay. The twins were simply not in the mood.

"Welcome ladies," Tamaki greeted as the ladies of the Academy walked into the room. "I am certain our host club will provide you with the most magical evening you will ever experience. Please, come in, don't be too shy... My princesses." The girls shrieked with excitement and flattery as Kyoya started to show the guests to their scheduled places.

Two ladies went to sit with Tamaki; four went to sit with Mitsukuni and Takashi, three was to be with Kyoya, five with Haruhi and three with Hikaru and Kaoru. Things seemed to be going perfectly normal so far.

Mitsukuni was gobbling his cake so fast that Haruhi was questioning whether or not the third year could taste the sweetness before it was already devoured. Takashi pulled out a tissue and placed his hand on his cousin's shoulder, Honey bolted upright at the touch and his eyes widened. Takashi proceeded to wipe the smaller boys face, tenderly.

"Mitsukuni, you've made a mess." He said in that same cool tone he always used. Honey grinned brightly before laughing.

"Thanks, Takashi!" The girls squealed in delight at the loving relationship between the cousins. Of course all of this was an act as usual and had been done several times before but it didn't seem to bother the girls in the slightest.

Meanwhile, Tamaki was up to his usual tricks with his two ladies, both of whom demanded his full and undivided attention. Three paintings were set up by Tamaki's sofa today and the two ladies were examining them with great and mounting interest.

"Oh, these are beautiful!" Exclaimed a brown haired girl, whose hair was braided down one side. "Yes, which do you like best, Tamaki?" Asked the second girl, who reached out to brush her finger along the canvas- only to have it taken into warm and soft hands. She looked up and Tamaki stared her in the eye.

"Oh, my dear, it matters not as mere paint and colour could never compete with the beauty I see in your radiant eyes. Forgive my weakness for you, it is a curse." He pretended to pout but the girl just squealed again.

"He's so affectionate!" They called out in unison and held onto each other's hands as though supporting each other before the other would faint from the positive energy coming from the Host club's king.

_Where do they dream this stuff up? _Thought Haruhi as she looked away from Tamaki and at Kyoya with the three ladies that had requested him, though when she did look over he had already finished and so the trio of girls rushed over to Takashi and Mitsukuni to observe their little charade. _I wonder how the twins are doing... _Haruhi wondered as she glanced away from her leaving guest and towards the Hitachiin brothers, both of whom seemed to be performing their act again. It was like nothing had happened, then again maybe they were better actors that Haruhi thought.

"...Yeah and then he tripped over his laces and landed in a giant mud puddle!" Hikaru laughed and Haruhi was reminded very faintly of the first time she ever saw their act and how this seemed to be so very similar. Kaoru did just what Haruhi expected. His eyes went wide and he leaned across the table to whisper to Hikaru, though loud enough for their guests to hear.

"Hikaru!" He stressed as Hikaru stopped smiling and looked at his brother, offering him a small 'hmm?' as a reply. "That wasn't funny," Kaoru turned away and forced out fake tears, this time without the use of eye drops. "I don't see why you think it's funny, why are you so mean to me?" The three girls huddled together and watched the scene, silently, from their seats.

Hikaru placed his hand behind his brother's neck and pulled him close, rising to his feet to appear taller than Kaoru as he did so. Kaoru closed his eyes to force the last fake tears through and then opened them again, resting his head against Hikaru's chest.

"I-I'm so sorry, Kaoru, please forgive me?"

"Hikaru..." Kaoru muttered and the girls went hysterical again. Something, however, caught Haruhi's attention. While the girls squealed Hikaru seemed to whisper so quietly in Kaoru's ear that she nor did any others hear the words exchanged. Just then Kyoya walked over to where the twins were with their guests and smiled at them all.

"Thank you ladies, I'm sorry to tell you but Hikaru and Kaoru have other appointments and it would be a shame to leave them in suspense." The girls looked disappointed but never the less go up to leave. As they left the twins sat back down in their seats and let out a heavy breath simultaneously, they looked so tired. Kyoya brought the next two girls over and left to tend to the other guests.

"Hello Hikaru and Kaoru," The first girl smiled. "How are you today?" Hikaru and Kaoru looked less than pleased but forced a smile for the sake of the ladies.

"We're fine and what about you, ladies?" Smiled Hikaru as he leaned forward. The girls exchanged uneasy glances and the second girl spoke.

"Not that it is any of our business," She began. "But we heard about the old maid of the Hitachiin's family." The twins faces fell immediately and they glanced at each other out of the corner of their eyes.

"We can't imagine how you must be feeling; then again, you must know that it is not your fault... Right?" At this Kaoru jumped from his seat, his face flushed almost as though he had been caught out for something embarrassing. Hikaru looked up at his brother and then he too stood, Haruhi watched in shock as she observed their faces.

"Kyoya- senpai," Hikaru called out. Kyoya turned and offered a small 'hmm?' in response as he was surprised to be addressed by the twins during the guests visits. "Can we have a quick break?" He asked as he ignored the confused glances coming from the ladies. Kyoya stared for a moment and pushed his glasses higher up his nose.

"I don't think that would be very prudent of you, after all we have our guests to please." Hikaru and Kaoru breathed out deeply and their hands gripped the top and edge of the table tightly, as though it was a lifeline. Haruhi knew them being questioned on the maid was difficult for them, she was about to step forward but someone else beat her to it.

"Come now, Kyoya, I'm sure we can spare them a few minutes," He moved to the girls that the twins were supposed to be entertaining. "After all I'm sure we can keep these fabulous ladies interested, am I right?" The squealed again and nodded frantically.

"If you say so," Shrugged Kyoya. "Off you go then, boys." The twins nodded and walked to the door but Haruhi noticed how once they reached the door they yanked it open rather quickly and tore out of the room as quick as a whip. Haruhi stood wondering why the twins excused themselves so quickly when their guests were trying to consol them. That's when it hit her.

"_We can't imagine how you must be feeling; then again, you must know that it is not your fault... Right?" At this Kaoru jumped from his seat, his face flushed almost as though he had been caught out for something embarrassing._

_"This is all our fault. We told her where the combination for the safe was, we should never have done that."_

Haruhi knew that she should show her support for the twins, they were friends after all, but before she had the chance to even move from her seat she heard clapping nearby that demanded attention. It was Tamaki.

"Attention everyone," He announced from the sofa and table where the twins were previously sat. "The current events regarding the Hitachiin's maid, Miyu Suzuki, has upset the twins greatly. We would be grateful if you would all refrain from speaking of the maid within their presence and to not bring in any newspapers covering the news. We all need to support Hikaru and Kaoru until this all blows over." Everyone nodded and some looked to the door and then away as though the twins would come back any minute. Haruhi decided she should slip out of the room and see if they were alright, however, someone stopped her. Tamaki. "Haruhi, where are you going?"

"Senpai, I need to talk to them," Tamaki thought about it for a minute and was looking doubtful, but Haruhi added. "Please, Senpai." She offered him a small smile that he could not resist and in that moment Tamaki entered his own world.

_(Theatre of Tamaki's mind)_

Haruhi was looking more radiant than usual as a small blush blessed her cheeks, a gentle smile gracing her pale lips. "Please, Senpai."

"I think it would be better if you stayed." He spoke to her softly and her blush deepened drastically. She gave a small little smile.

"Oh, Senpai, I would stay with you forever. I love you!" She threw herself at him and he spun her around, laughing along with her.

_(End of Tamaki's imagination)_

Haruhi noticed that Tamaki seemed to be in his own strange little world again so she just left before things got stranger. She had noticed that the twins always went to two different places when they were troubled, she had already checked the science room so now she was heading to their foreign language class.

She peeked in to see both twins sat at their desks, sitting closer than the desks usually are. Hikaru had buried his face in his hands and Kaoru just stared at his desk, almost as though it would provide him some comfort if he kept his unblinking gaze upon it.

"Hikaru, Kaoru." Haruhi said, casually, as she approached. The twins raised their heads but lowered them again with a sigh. They were not pleased to see her. She grabbed a chair from underneath a nearby desk and sat beside Hikaru, rubbing his arm in a friendly way. "Do you want to talk?" She asked them both, quietly.

"There's nothing to talk about," Said Kaoru, offhandedly. Hikaru took his head out of his hands and glanced at his brother, placing a reassuring hand on his brother's arm. "Miyu was right. No-one will be able to tell us apart so what's the point in trying to make friends?" Hikaru and Haruhi gave him sceptical looks.

"Kaoru... That's not true at all-" Haruhi started to explain but was cut off by the twin who had just spoken.

"No!" He barked; she expected such behaviour from Hikaru so to see this side of Kaoru was quite a surprise. "No-one in the host club can tell us apart really, that just shows they don't care enough to try, she warned us about this. We should have carried on like before!"

"Y-You're right," Muttered Hikaru. "We shouldn't have listened to Tamaki in the first place."

"But that would have got you nowhere. You'd still be alone without anyone but each other, is that what you want?" She could see the twin's hands forming into tight fists on the desk.

"It would have been better," Hikaru started. "Than being disappointed all over again."

"What you said earlier, about not being able to be told apart... It's a lie," The twin's eyes widened as they looked up at Haruhi. "Because I can tell you apart." They contemplated this for a moment and decided they didn't know what to say, so they continued. "Just because the others haven't been able to tell the difference doesn't mean they don't care... You know when you left, Tamaki-Senpai told everyone they needed to be supportive and he told Kyoya- Senpai to let you go because he knew you were hurting and he didn't want you to be there and uncomfortable. They all care and so do I."

Both of them looked up at her and smiled, no-one knew how to respond and no-one truly wanted to leave as their current position and location was perfect for now.

"Are you going to be alright?" She whispered.

"We'll cope," Said Hikaru with a very small genuine smile as he nudged his brother. "Right?" Kaoru offered the same smile and nodded. Haruhi stayed with the twins long enough until eventually the foreign language class came in and the twins took their proper seats- as did Haruhi- and waited for their teacher.

_Coming up: Things are tense at the Hitachiin manor, Kyoya- his brothers, sister and father- are invited to the Hitachiin home to attempt to assist in the finding of the maid. Slowly but surely the twins appear to be coping a bit better._


	3. Tension at Hitachiin Manor

_Dream Of Rose Petals ~ Thank you so much! You are the first person to notice the structure I was attempting to take. _

_Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, if you have questions or have an opinion to share I will answer you in my author's notes of my next chapter. Thanks!_

Hikaru and Kaoru had returned home after a day of watching the rest of the host club walking on egg shells to keep them comfortable, honestly they were sick of the attention but moved that Haruhi cared enough to find them and give off the kind words they longed to hear.

"_Because I can tell you apart." _

So long it had been for someone to say those words to the twins but it was worth it. The night at home after they returned from school was slightly awkward as neither one really spoke to each other; none of them knew what to think, believe or how to even comprehend their actions. The next day, however, they were awoken rather early in the morning- too early for a weekend- by their maids.

"Good morning, Masters." The female twin maids spoke in perfect unison as they stood by the door, before moving to put some clothes on a nearby chair. "Your father wishes to speak with you both," They spoke together again. "He requests you to wear the selected clothes." The boys nodded as the twin maids left the room and closed the door.

"What do you think this'll be about?" Asked Kaoru as he got up, took off his pyjama bottoms and replaced them with black trousers which resembled his school ones. Hikaru was still sat up- shirtless- in bed.

"It's obvious isn't it?" Hikaru replied in mono tone, biting the edge of his thumb in hopes of calming his nerves to no avail. "He'll want to talk about Miyu." Kaoru had his back to his brother; he stopped for a split second and eventually continued buttoning up his white shirt and reaching for the red tie before doing it up.

"C'mon get dressed," Kaoru said, calmly, as though Hikaru had never spoken. He looked over his shoulder to see his brother un-moving and staring at him-Kaoru- with wide eyes. "We don't want to leave father, of all people, waiting."

The Hitachiin's parents were very kind and gentle with their two sons but whenever something got them angry or stressed their father would be the one who was most intimidating. Their mother was mostly away on business and so they didn't get to spend much time with her.

After getting fully dressed the two boys made their way downstairs. The clothes their father had requested them to wear were a pair of black trousers, shoes, white shirt, red ties and a black blazer. Usually they were requested to dress this way whenever company came to their manor, the last time company came over the twins were out by themselves and didn't bother coming into the main room to meet their guests.

They stopped at the door that led to the dining room and looked at each other; they were both tired and slightly nervous at being called to see their father so early in the morning. Together they placed one hand on either one of the two handles and did a small countdown.

"One... Two... Three." The door opened and the boys stepped in, their father was talking to another man with black hair, glasses and a moustache. This man had been seen in their home before and the twins greatly disliked him but they could not deny they were surprised to notice that there were four others in the room. Although, one face really caught their eyes.

"Senpai?" Said Hikaru as the figure of Kyoya Otori turned to face them, offering a small and supportive smile. Kyoya left his seat and nodded at the woman beside him who could only have been his older sister, Fuyumi. As he approached the twins remained silent, standing so close that their shoulders were almost touching.

"What're you doing here, Senpai?" Kyoya pushed his glasses higher upon his nose before answering.

"My family and I were called here on business," It was then the twins took a closer look at what their friend was wearing. More or less Kyoya was wearing the same formal attire as the twins; however, his tie was a slight teal colour rather than the red ones the twins wore.

Behind Kyoya were his older brothers, again they wore the suites but Yuuichi was wearing a green tie and Akito was wearing indigo. Fuyumi was wearing a very pair of black trouser with a white blouse which had a slight frill around the collar; her dark hair was pulled up in a long- neat- ponytail. Akito was giving Kaoru a funny look as usual, he always seemed annoyed when he saw either of the twins and was always keen on interrogating them to find out about Kyoya's reputation at school. Kaoru cringed a little under the older Otori boy's gaze.

"I swear," Whispered Kaoru, leaning forward so only Hikaru and Kyoya could hear him. "I _really _don't think Akito likes us- look at him, he keeps staring at us like we're carrying a disease or something."

"Kaoru, I've told you before, do not say a word against my brother." Kyoya said flatly and Kaoru knew better than to argue with the shadow king.

"So what 'business' are you here for? Please tell us it's nothing to do with Miyu." Said Hikaru as he put air quotes around the word 'business' before desperately asking about if the meeting was about the old maid.

"I'm so very sorry but yes, my father offers our secret security to your family in order to catch Miyu Suzuki and return her to prison- where she belongs." The twins nodded their understanding and Kaoru lowered his head, Hikaru looked down at his younger brother and eventually lowered his too. Kyoya- who rarely showed affection to his friends- put a hand on Kaoru's shoulder, comfortingly; they didn't look up until their father's voice tore the silence in the room apart.

"Hikaru, Kaoru. Thank you for joining us, please sit." Their father gestured to the two free chairs beside Kyoya-senpai. "Now then, I'm sorry to wake you so early; boys, but I have asked Mister Otori if he would be willing to provide us with his infamous secret police in order to apprehend Miyu Suzuki." He said, nodding his head towards Kyoya's father.

"I would hardly say 'infamous', Mr Hitachiin, it is quite well known that besides from the medical business the Otori family prides itself with having an underground police force on standby ready for orders." Hikaru and Kaoru knew their father did not at all get along with Mr Otori but they also knew he would do just about anything for fairness and order so it was not at all a surprise to see him in here today. "Now down to business. We are prepared to hand over our force if you can offer us something in return."

"Name your price." Mr Hitachiin said flatly. This is exactly what Mr Otori wanted to hear, he pushed his glasses up on his nose and eventually said.

"I believe 300,000 thousand yen will cover the service cost," He said, flipping through a small notebook and adding something up on a calculator before nodding and turning his attention back to the meeting. "Unless of course, you are not prepared to fulfil this cost?"

"Of course we shall pay. I trust you wish this to be paid upfront?" Mr Otori did not smile, he merely nodded and so he stood up. "Fuyumi, Yuuichi, Akito please follow us through. Kyoya, you stay here with your-" He threw a disgusted look at the twins as though they were commoners. "-friends." Everyone beside the twins and Kyoya left the room, the door was slammed shut and the three was left in silence.

"That was a lot quicker than expected." Muttered Kaoru.

"Indeed," Said Kyoya, again pushing his glasses up. "But then again, my father likes to work fast. It's how he operates."

"Well now what do we do?" Asked Hikaru. The others nodded until eventually the twin maids came in.

"Masters, we have prepared your tea in the other room if you would like to wait for your fathers' there." They nodded and followed the maids through to the other room. "Very good, sirs, we will send you back through when you are requested." With that the two were gone, leaving the three boys in a small dining room with tea and a newspaper.

"Senpai," Said Hikaru, eyeing Kyoya curiously. "Why did you have to come if your father isn't including you in the discussion?" He asked while jerking his thumb towards the room they'd just been in.

"It would be helpful to learn from firsthand experience just how my father deals with certain issues." He said in a cool toned voice before taking a sip of tea.

"But yet, here you are with us and not in there with the others. Were you even made to come here today?" Kaoru asked. Kyoya started to tense and find the small ripples in his tea quite interesting for some bizarre reason. "Kyoya- senpai, did you come here to check up on us?"

"Now why on earth would I do that?" He asked, not daring to look them in the eye. There was silence for a moment.

"Maybe to make sure we're doing ok." Hikaru wondered out loud as he looked at his older friend.

"You are quite capable of taking care of yourselves; I do not see why I would feel the need to comfort you as we all know it would do no good." Something what Kyoya had just said made Kaoru realise something.

"_I do not see why I would feel the need to comfort you." _

_Kyoya- who rarely showed affection to his friends- put a hand on Kaoru's shoulder, comfortingly;_

"You did come here to comfort us, if you thought it would have been useless then why did you comfort us before our father started the meeting?" Asked Kaoru. Kyoya looked up and now stared at him.

"If my memory serves me correctly I did not comfort you with words." He said with a little edge in his voice.

"No, you did with a gesture." Said Hikaru, who had caught onto what his brother was talking about. Kyoya placing his hand on Kaoru's shoulder was an act of friendliness. He had wanted to comfort the twins but did not know how and so in the heat of the moment he had acted with his heart rather than his brain. Kyoya stared straight, emotion and sympathy hidden inside his dark orbs.

"You know, senpai, you're not the heartless jerk you try and convince people you are. It's ok that you want to act without being heartless once in a while." That statement sounded so similar to what Haruhi had said to Kyoya before; to hear those words leaving Kaoru's mouth was a shock but never the less. Kaoru was rather wise despite his foolish ways and there was no denying that.

"That's an intriguing thought in its own way." He said with the faintest trace of a smile on his face before taking a sip of tea. The twins turned to face each other and did not even try to hide their smile, if they could even receive comfort from the shadow king it showed just how much their friends truly cared about them. It made them feel slightly better and for a moment they completely forgot about Miyu.

"Kyoya," Said a hard voice from the door the trio had just left. "Come, we must leave before the press get wind of us here." Said Kyoya's father as he led the others out of the room, Kyoya nodded and followed after his siblings, not daring a look back at the twins. There were moments of silence in which the twins just sat in the room they'd been left in. They honestly did not know what they should do next, eventually their father came into the room and sat on the seat in which Kyoya had previously been sat on.

"Are you boys alright?" He asked, gently. Both of them nodded but didn't say a word. "Just so you know... I didn't tell Mr. Otori _how _Miyu got the combination all those years ago." The twins both nodded and were slightly relieved, they did not want anyone to know they had been so foolish as to give away something so important away to someone that shouldn't have had it. "Hikaru, Kaoru- you are planning on speaking today, right?" They looked up and together they spoke.

"Yes, father." Their father smiled very faintly and then stood up, excusing himself from the room- claiming that he had work to be getting on with- while he left the twins returned to their bedroom. As they stayed there something started to grab their attention. Kaoru was peering out of the window while Hikaru sat on the bed, playing on his Nintendo DS.

"You have got to be kidding!" Kaoru growled as he gazed down at the front gates of the manor through the large window. Hikaru turned off his game and glanced over his shoulder to see his brothers face set in a steady but firm frown.

"What's up?" Hikaru asked, after slight hesitation. Kaoru stole a look at his brother and then jerked his head towards something out of the window and then turned away. Hikaru stood up and moved into the space beside Kaoru and followed his gaze, this time he gave a low groan of disdain.

What must have been hundreds of photographers and journalists were stood on the outside of the giant gate, blocking the entrance to the grounds of the manor. They were shouting words that the twins could not make out, being as high up as they are, as they glared down at the people that did nothing but slowly drive them insane, the two twins maids knocked on the door and entered the room.

"Sirs, the press are at the front gates, would you like-?" But before the one speaking had the chance to finish her question, Hikaru had turned let out a growl of frustration.

"You don't need to tell us what we know, just get them the hell out of here!" The maids looked taken aback at the sudden and quite unexpected outburst. Everything was silent and Hikaru was flushed with anger- much like that fateful day in Karuizawa- Kaoru quickly got over his shock and in a stable voice he said.

"Calm down, Hikaru." Hikaru glanced at his brother to see the surprise in his widened pupils; he then looked over to see the same look plastered on the maids faces.

"I'm sorry," He said, quietly as he looked at the ground, his cheeks burning red with slight frustration and embarrassment. "Please, could you just get them to leave?" The both nodded and left the room quickly to follow his orders; Kaoru then kept a very close eye on Hikaru and for the rest of the day there was silence between the two. They did not speak and barely did they even make a sound, they just sat around either doing nothing or playing the DS.

"Listen, Hikaru," Kaoru started, around seven o'clock at night. "I know this is going to be hard but... With the Otori family supplying us with their secret police, they'll catch her. Until then, we should try our best to move on."

"Are you saying you want to pretend none of this ever happened?" Hikaru spat over his shoulder, without looking at Kaoru.

"No," Said his brother, simply. "But we can at least try to... ignore it..." Hikaru looked at his brother now and his face had softened.

"I don't know if I can do that, Kaoru." He said in almost a whisper. Kaoru nodded; honestly he didn't know whether or not he could do it either. The fear of having things reverted back to how they were before always hung over his like a dark cloud, it was the one thing he truly feared. When he had heard about Miyu escaping the prison he had felt as though the very ground from under his feet had fallen and that he too would fall and not know what to do. Though, he knew he had to help his brother try and get through this. Currently Kaoru did not need to focus on his feelings, they did not matter, it was all about how his brother felt and if Hikaru felt awful it was up to him- Kaoru- to make things seems just right.

"We can, Hikaru," He said as he sat on the edge of the bed that Hikaru was sat on. "I know we can."

_Coming up: At school the twins try their hardest to convince their friends they are perfectly fine but the pretence proves to be a challenge. Kyoya spots an unusual person wondering through the school and the twins get a surprise visit, but is it good... Or bad?_


	4. The mysterious woman

_GatewaysDiary- Thank you for pointing out how much you liked the moment with the Shadow king and the twins, I was hoping someone would find that part interesting. _

_Thanks to all who have reviewed so far and like I said previously, if there are any questions please ask them and I shall answer them in my next chapter. Thanks!_

After everyone had arrived in the club room for their pre-opening meeting things did not seem out of the ordinary. Kyoya had stolen a quick glance at the twins as they entered but then quickly turned away and scribbled something in his black book, Haruhi had given them a reassuring smile, Honey had placed some cake in front of them at the table, Mori nodded at them and Tamaki reached out to give the twins an over enthusiastic handshake.

"So what's the plan for today?" Said Hikaru, in what he thought must have been an excited tone. The other host members looked surprised and taken aback at his sudden cheery attitude but they decided not to question it.

"Err... Well, Renge thought it would be a brilliant idea to dress up in Japanese warrior cosplay." Said Tamaki as he seemed to be addressing the other hosts rather than the twins for some bizarre reason.

"Any warriors in particular?" Wondered Kaoru as he leaned forward to make himself known to the clubs king. Tamaki glanced at the twin which had spoken and stared for a moment before Kaoru motioned- by a role of his hand- for him to answer the question.

"Oh, erm, no-one in particular. She thought it best if we allowed the guests to be free with their imagination.

"Didn't we do that in episode twenty one?" Asked Honey-Senpai, clearly well aware of them being in an anime and that this plan had already been thought of. Tamaki laughed.

"No, no, Honey-Senpai. That was episode twenty _two."_ Tamaki then turned around and winked at an invisible camera, earning him odd looks from the twins.

"Oh yeah that's right!" Said Honey, brightly. "But then why are we doing it again?"

"It was quite popular with the ladies." Tamaki said with a smile and looked over at Kyoya when he started to speak.

"Yes but I'm afraid you are pushing your luck with our budget, we'll have to use the previous costumes worn in 'episode twenty two' as you so put it." Said Kyoya as he rested his book on the table and put air quotes around 'episode twenty two'. Tamaki pulled a serious face as he nodded.

"No surprise there about over shooting the budget." Muttered Haruhi under her breath, the twins snickered and Tamaki narrowed his eyes at her.

"And what is that supposed to mean, Haruhi?" He asked, though, not as seriously or with much venom as he would have liked. Haruhi looked him in the eyes and in a calm voice she said.

"Well, you can be really greedy, Senpai." With that Tamaki hung his mouth open and went to sit in his sulking corner yet again. Kyoya called over to him.

"Don't go sulking; we need to get ready for the guests." Tamaki stayed in his corner as the host members moved behind him. "Oh very well, everyone I suggest you go change. Our king is too busy acting like a child to do anything currently." The others moved away but nearly all of them heard Tamaki speak.

"Even mommy is mean to me, no-one's bothered about daddy." The twins rolled their eyes and stifled a chuckle each at Tamaki's reference to Kyoya being a motherly figure for the others in the host club.

It didn't take long for everyone to get dressed into their blue warrior cosplay costumes. After going over the check list of costumers everyone took their allocated seats. The twins had two guests, Tamaki had four, Kyoya had one, Haruhi had two and Honey and Mori had three.

"Hikaru, Kaoru are you cosplaying as Kenichi right?" Asked one excited girl. The other girl who was sat beside her burst out with.

"Of course not, they're clearly cosplaying as Mamoru!" The first girl suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree and nodded her head frantically as though agreeing. The twins looked at each other and for the first time since this whole maid incident, they were smiling without faking it.

"Ladies, you know we can be both," Hikaru winked at them. "Right?" The girls gave loud squeals of excitement.

"Do you have your own swords?" Asked the second girl, excitedly. Kaoru smirked and pulled out an authentic samurai sword, his brother did the same thing.

"Brother," Said Hikaru, speaking in character, clearly this was the start of their brotherly love performance. "Shall we commence with our battle?" His voice had lowered slightly as he put on an accent, the girls giggled.

"We shall," Kaoru nodded and ran a finger down the blade of the sword, after removing the case and dropping it to the floor. "But you know; it will be I who comes out victorious." The brothers smirked at each other, this had been planned for a while but they hadn't practised it in ages. It was a good thing they could remember how it planned out though.

Hikaru started as he waved the sword high and brought it down, Kaoru ducked his head before the blade had chance to collide with it. Kaoru then reached up and banged his sword onto his brothers, they looked at each other before Hikaru pulled away and smacked Kaoru's sword- gently so not to harm his brother- as planned Kaoru let go off the sword and watched it clatter to the ground. Hikaru grinned and put the blade to Kaoru's throat- yet again, not close enough to hurt but close enough to make it look real- Kaoru pretended to look sad. The girls let out a small gasp and watched on; none of the other hosts appeared to take notice at all.

"Looks like you are a champion no more, Kaoru." Said Hikaru. By the use of eye drops, which Kaoru had used at some point during the guests visit, he let a single tear fall down his cheek.

"Hikaru..." He tried to be upset; Hikaru put the sword on the ground and gripped Kaoru's face. His voice went soft.

"I'm sorry, Kaoru, I didn't mean to scare you..." He whispered, the ladies gripped the armrests so hard that their knuckles went rapidly white.

"I forgive you." He replied back quietly. The girls squealed and Kyoya came over to relieve the twins of their guests. With a deep breath in both of the boys bent down and picked up the swords, putting them back into their cases and leaving them on the sofa in which their guests were previously sat on. The rest of the guests came and went without any problems and the issue with Miyu was never brought up once.

When the host club closed for business for that day everyone went to lessons. Haruhi met up with the twins when they got changed back into their school uniform. The twins tried their hardest to laugh and joke but it was clear that, that was never going to happen.

"Are you guys doing ok?" Haruhi asked eventually. Both boys turned to look at her and nervously said.

"Yeah, of course we are, why wouldn't we be?" Asked Hikaru, trying to force a few chuckles but clearly failing the convince her.

"You can't fool me; I can see you're both still upset." Both of the boys shared a look. They walked back to their classroom in silence, wondering how Haruhi had managed to see right through them. "Do you want to talk about it?" She asked.

"I want to know something," Said Kaoru as he looked up at her, her eyes widened and Hikaru looked- sideways- at him. "How on earth could you tell something was still wrong?" There was silence for a moment.

"Well," She started. "Let's call it intuition." The pair stared at her. Just then Kaoru and Hikaru had both remembered something, by saying it was 'intuition' she really meant that she could somehow tell there was still something wrong, so she must have picked up on the little hints they dropped. Both were reminded of what Kaoru had said the day Hikaru and Haruhi first went on a date.

"_And remember, whenever you care a lot from someone, Hikaru, it's important you pay attention to any subtle little hints they drop."_

That meant that Haruhi really did care about the two of them because she had bothered to notice the hints they dropped, even if they themselves did not even recall dropping them.

"Well we will be ok, Haruhi, and thanks." Said Hikaru, Kaoru gave a small smile and nod, to confirm his brother's words.

Later that day the host club returned back to the club to see more of their guests, this time they stuck to their usual school uniform. However, it was such a beautiful day that when they all met at the club room- they decided they would greet their guests outside by the cherry blossom trees. Everything seemed to be going perfectly well, Kyoya had wondered away from the group for a moment so he could write in peace, that and he had an extra credit assignment to hand into his science teacher- it would give him an extra boost that his father _might _respect.

He reached the classroom and seeing as there was no teacher in the room he simply signed his name on top of the report he made and left it on the desk before leaving the room and closing the door. The corridors were quite deserted as the teachers were in the staff room and the students- both male and female- were wondering around in the grounds for their free time.

Kyoya had noticed that ever since the scandal with Miyu Suzuki had begun, the host club were getting double the amount of guests they usually did, which meant that business was better than ever. It might be an idea to get some more picture books ready quite soon before the shock of the maid dies down and the usual amount of costumers attend again.

His thoughts were torn from his mind when someone accidently shoved past him, almost making him lose his balance but he regained it quickly and pushed his glasses up his nose. Eying the person curiously. The person was a woman approximately in her late thirty's or early forty's, she had a pair of black trousers and a long blue shirt on with light blonde hair, she looked up at Kyoya and muttered.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!"

"No problem..." Said Kyoya as he watched the woman trot away from him and disappear down the corridor, she was dressed casual like a female teacher but he knew for certain she was not one of Tamaki's father's staff. "Hmm." He said mainly to himself as he tried to jog his memory, trying to work out just why her face looked so familiar. Eventually he decided that this was not important right now so he brushed it off as nothing for the time being. He rushed back outside to join the host club as he did so he overheard one of the twins.

"Damn it, I think I left my phone in the club room. I'll be back in a sec." And with that Kaoru jumped from his seat, waved a momentary goodbye to his guests and Hikaru and ran towards the gates, only to be stopped by Kyoya.

"Where are you going?" He asked in a cool voice, clearly he wanted Kaoru to ask permission before leaving.

"I left my phone in the club room, I'll just be a sec and by the way look- Hikaru is doing fine, it won't take me long I swear." Kyoya waited for a moment but eventually stepped aside and let Kaoru burst through the gates, run across the grounds and into the building.

Kaoru sprinted to the room and pushed the doors open, the room was empty. As he walked further in he noticed that the samurai swords he and his brother had left on the couch were both gone. _"Kyoya must have moved them." _He thought as he took another looked at the couch before remembering he was sat at the windowsill with Hikaru earlier.

He moved over to the window and smiled as he picked up his phone but groaned when he saw the 'low battery' icon blinking rapidly. There was the sound of ruffling feet behind him and Kaoru expected it to be Hikaru, checking to make sure he found his phone. But when he turned around he found himself frozen to the spot. His heart pounded against his chest so hard that it might shatter his ribs.

A blonde wig fell to the floor and a face of evil stared at him with a sick and wicked smile. The samurai sword he thought Kyoya had taken was resting in her hand. He remembered her, he knew her and for some reason unbeknownst to himself... He was terrified of her, even though she never gave him any reason to be.

"My boy, how you've grown." She said in a false sweet voice drenched with loose venom. His mouth was dry; his head was spinning but at the same time rage boiled through his veins but his anger could not reach the surface.

"...Miyu Suzuki..."

_Coming up: Face to face time with Kaoru and Miyu. The host club notice Kaoru's absence. Kyoya reveals that he saw a mysterious woman roaming the halls and the club come face to face with the evil maid... Miyu Suzuki. _


	5. The Host Club to the rescue!

"Now then," Said Miyu, as she gazed- thoughtfully- at Kaoru, who was completely frozen in the same position. He did not dare move and did not trust himself to speak and lose control. "Which one are you?" Her voice was soft as though it was a question that was casually asked over a cup of coffee, he did not know how to respond or if he even wanted to. He was reminded, unpleasantly, of the moment in which she had left himself and Hikaru behind after stealing from their family.

"_It's possible that no-one will be able to tell which one's which."_

"I said," She spoke as she moved a long, bony, finger down the blade of the sword. Watching out of the corner of her eye to catch Kaoru's reaction. He had suddenly gone stiff as his eyes followed her finger. "Which one are you?" This time her voice was much sterner and it sent chills down his spine, she took a small step forward and upon instinct, Kaoru went backwards but ended up falling onto the windowsill. His throat had suddenly gone dry but he knew better than to ignore a woman with a sword in her hand, so he answered.

"K-Kaoru," His voice was shakier than he would have liked but at least he got the word out of his mouth. She smirked at him as she came two steps closer, she was still quite a distance from him but never the less he pressed his back firmly against the window. Kaoru craned his neck and glanced behind to look out of the window to see if he could spot the other hosts but he soon discovered that the garden they were in with the guests was not possible to be seen from any of the windows in the club room.

"Ah, you haven't changed one little bit, Kaoru Hitachiin." She spoke casually as she opened the door and peeked out to make sure no-one was wondering around, Kaoru took this time to try and call Hikaru but because his battery was low it immediately shut itself off the minute he pressed the contact button. Swearing under his breath he stood from where he was sat and tried to contemplate an escape but with Miyu stood at the exit with a weapon in her hands, he found this a situation impractical. Miyu walked back into the room and closed the door, flashing Kaoru a wicked smirk.

"What are you doing here?" Kaoru asked quietly as he glared at the ex maid that stood half way between him and the door to the club room in which they were in. She gave him a false innocent smile.

"Whatever do you mean; are you not pleased to see your old friend?" Kaoru narrowed his eyes at her and the fire of anger within him grew larger and larger, for her to be referring to herself as his friend just filled him with the bitter feeling of betrayal.

"You're not my friend!" He spat, viciously, at her. His burning hatred had taken control of his mind before he had even gathered the chance to think about what was to spill from his lips. His head was clearly not on speaking terms with his mouth. Miyu gave a low and sinister chuckle which make Kaoru wince at the sound which greatly resembled a laugh one would hear in a horror movie.

"Feisty little thing, aren't you, I suppose Hikaru is the same?" She took a step closer and Kaoru forced himself not to back away, though, he was still aware of the sword that was tight in her hand. "What is wrong with you, you seem angry?" Again the fake innocence added fuel to the fire of disdain and hatred within him and he wanted to scream his frustration out of him, to call the police and watch in satisfaction as she was locked away forever.

"You betrayed us. You convinced Hikaru and I that no-one would be able to tell us apart so for half of our lives we pushed everyone away, but you failed because we have found someone who respects us and who can tell us apart!"

"Who?" She said in a challenging tone. With all the confidence he had he opened his mouth and spoke the name of the person he truly respected and cared about.

"Haruhi Fujioka."

Kyoya checked his watch; Kaoru had been gone for ten minutes already. It couldn't possibly take him this long to fetch his phone, 'one sec' that's what he had said. So why was he not yet back? He watched as Hikaru struggled to entertain the ladies without his brother there to help. Kyoya could not help but think back to the strange woman he had met in the corridor, if she truly did not work here them why would she be here? Perhaps she was new, but that would not make sense as Kyoya's family were very close to the Suoh family so he would have been told.

Hikaru could not take the suspense anymore so he jumped from his seat and ran over to Tamaki, he did not even bother to wait for him to finish with his guest before he butted in.

"Boss, something's wrong, Kaoru hasn't come back yet!" Tamaki immediately took his eyes off of his guest and looked up into Hikaru's worried face to see he wasn't joking, his eyebrows scrunched up in confusion as he looked behind the twin to see that Kaoru really was nowhere in sight.

"I didn't even know he left, where is he?" Kyoya approached and Hikaru looked up at him and in a rush he questioned him on his brother's whereabouts.

"Senpai, Kaoru's still gone, I'm getting worried." Tamaki looked back and forth between Hikaru and Kyoya. Takashi, Haruhi and Mitsukuni had by now noticed that something was wrong and so excused themselves from the ladies and approached.

"Kao-chan is gone?" Asked Mitsukuni, moving to stand beside Hikaru and looking from host to host for confirmation. Hikaru looked down at him and just gave him a worried look which seemed to confirm his friend's question.

"Not to worry," Said Kyoya as all eyes of the host club fell upon him. "Kaoru has gone to the club room to retrieve his phone."

"Wait a minute, you knew about this, Kyoya?" Kyoya looked at Tamaki and nodded, pushing his glasses higher upon his nose so his eyes could be seen and he looked slightly less intimidating.

"Why of course, he did inform me of it before he left. Though, he did say he wouldn't be long but-"

"He left ten minutes ago!" Hikaru barked, cutting off Kyoya in the process. Something no-one had ever had the guts to do. He was the shadow king after all.

"Right then, men, I think it's safe to say he is just messing around. He'll be fine, Hikaru." Said Tamaki as he turned to face the worried Hitachiin boy.

"Something isn't right," Said Hunny. "Kao-chan has never been gone this long while the ladies are here, maybe someone should check on him." Hikaru looked down at Hunny and nodded his head frantically.

"I did see an unusual woman wondering around the school earlier, clearly no-one that the Suoh family had hired- do not look at me like that, Hikaru, it could not have been Miyu because there is no practical way for her to enter Ouran and she was blonde and did not have black hair like the maid does."

"I'm not convinced, he would never take this long and who's to say that woman wasn't her in a wig or something or she could have dyed her hair." He pressed on, desperate for someone to believe him and go and search for his brother.

"Let's go find out," Said Takashi, everyone looked at him in surprise. "He's worried, the least we can do is find out the truth." Hikaru looked grateful but before he could do or say anything the ladies had approached them all.

"What's going on?" Asked one of them, just then Renge came bustling through the crowd of ladies and stopped in front of the host club, hands on her hips as she looked slightly annoyed at the hold up.

"Yes, what is going on and where is Kaoru?" She guessed Kaoru was missing because she heard one of the girls whispering about his strange absence and had decided to investigate.

"Ladies," Started Tamaki. "It appears one of our hosts is not currently present but not to worry, we now must cut this session short to retrieve him. Our humblest apologises but the safety of our hosts' come first." The girls giggled and some applauded.

"Yeah right, he's just trying not to look insensitive." Haruhi thought in her mind as the clubs king started to lead the way back to the school, they were all walking but eventually- mainly because of Hikaru- they all started a run.

"It was stupid of you to come back," Said Kaoru, choosing his words carefully. By now he had backed up to far and had fallen-once again- upon the windowsill. "The police will find you here; you'll go back to prison."

"Ah, yes but," She said as she came closer, now she was so close that she could just reach out her arm and be able to touch him. "I'm sure you wouldn't want me to get caught, would you?" It was mainly because she had started tapping her fingers on the blade of the sword that she thought he would answer this question honestly. However, he knew that the longer he kept her here the more likely it was for the others to come in search of him and then she would never get away. Not with Mitsukuni and Takashi's fighting skills.

"I most certainly would!" He spoke defiantly. With a low screech of anger the maid closed the space between them in one quick stride and put the sword just in front of his face, the point so close he could almost feel it. Though he could not back down. "Why did you come back anyway?" Without moving her gaze or position she told him.

"You will clear my name, you will tell them that you and your brother broke into the safe and blamed me!" Kaoru stared at her with widened eyes; surely she could not be serious. Even if that story was true where on earth would they have kept the money?

"You have got to be kidding me," He told her while almost laughing. "That's ridiculous; you were caught with the money when the police found you!" Slowly a wicked smile crept to her face.

"Oh, you'll think of something to tell them. Besides I bet no-one knows, besides your parents, just _who _gave me the combination in the first place. Oh could you imagine the scandal if that got out?" Now his eyes really did widen, the day they confessed to their parents they had been told that nobody- especially the press should know about what they'd done. It would jeopardize their parents business for sure to hear that the sons of the Hitachiin family had given away such crucial information.

Silence flooded the room for what felt like forever as hundreds of consequences filled his mind and the guilt he felt when she robbed the family slowly started to set back in. The weapon was still dangerously close to his face when suddenly the club doors burst open. The sudden intrusion had startled Miyu and as she turned the sword slashed Kaoru lightly on the cheek, the shock from that then caused him to fall off of the window sill and onto the floor by the maid's feet.

"Kaoru!" Screamed Hikaru as he saw his brother fall. The rest of the club ran in behind Hikaru and when they caught sight of the sword, the maid and Kaoru on the floor they all suspected the very worst. Mitsukuni tried to run towards Kaoru to aid him but Takashi grabbed the back of his blazer and pulled him back. Even Kyoya looked surprised to see Miyu in the room; he cursed himself inwardly for being so stupid.

"What have you done to him?" Barked Haruhi, much to club member's shock. Kaoru lifted his head and everyone was relieved to see he only had a small cut on his cheek.

"Haruhi, I'm fine." He told her. Suddenly the maid's eyes lit up with mischief as her eyes bored into Haruhi.

"So you're the famous Haruhi Fujioka?" She let out a full hearted laugh, "The only person able to tell these two clones apart." Haruhi side glanced at Hikaru, who lowered his head and formed his hands to make two tightly clenched fists. Tamaki swung an arm out in front of Haruhi as though afraid Miyu might attack her instead.

"Leave her alone!" Barked Kaoru, the maid swung her head around to face him again. "Kyoya-Senpai, call the police." Kyoya nodded and pulled out his phone.

"No!" Snarled the ex maid as she raised the sword and pointed it towards Kaoru.

"Stop!" Hikaru yelled, trying to move forward but this time- to much shock on Hikaru's part- Hunny grabbed the bottom of his blazer.

"Don't do it, Hika-chan, wait for the police." Hikaru was ready to argue but stopped and looked back at Miyu when she started to speak.

"I'll reveal the truth about you and your brother; I'll tell them what really happened the night I stole from your home." Kaoru glared deeply at the woman before him, Hikaru pondered this for a few moments before he realised what she meant. She was going to tell everyone that Hikaru and Kaoru had given her the combination to the safe.

"What are you talking about?" Asked Tamaki, Kyoya had paused for a moment. Secretly the police were already on their way- due to the fact he had pressed a button in his pocket that silently alerted them to their whereabouts. Miyu looked at the twins and both shook their heads frantically.

"Well, your little friends are not as innocent as they appear," She said in an almost sing song kind of way.

"Don't!" Screamed Kaoru, fear shaking his entire body.

"On the night I stole from the Hitachiin family it was made possible as Hikaru and Kaoru both as good as handed over the safe combination to me. Allowing me to complete what I was doing and leave." The host club stared at the twins, both of whom were flushed with self-loathing and frustration and partly embarrassment. They could feel everyone's eyes digging deep into them as though they had been the ones to commit a crime.

Just then Kyoya's secret police burst into the room and immediately seized Miyu and dragged her out of the room; one man stayed behind the address the others.

"We will contact both the Ootori and the Hitachiin family; further information shall come from them on what shall happen next. Good day to you all."

"Thank you." Said Kyoya as the final man left the room and took the sword with them as evidence of an attack. Everyone in the room stared at the twins.

"Hikaru, Kaoru. Is that true?" Asked Tamaki, looking as though they had just announced them leaving the club or something ludicrous like that. The twins shared looks and before even thinking about it they sprinted from the room and down the corridor. Faintly behind them they heard the shouts and cries of their friends from behind but they didn't want to hear their voices or face their disappointed complexions. Somehow Miyu had done damage to them again, in a single moment she had robbed the twins of whatever respect they had from their friends. She had shredded their pride and left them with the burning need to feel isolated. They were completely disgusted with themselves.

Their father would kill them now that Miyu had revealed their secret, if the press got wind of this their parents entire empire would be forever gone. And to think... All Kaoru wanted was his phone...

_Coming up: The other members of the host club discuss what they had heard about the twins. Hikaru and Kaoru explain what really happened to Haruhi, the twin's father is furious when the press arrive at the manor and start asking questions. _


	6. The Wrath Of Mr Hitachiin

The host club stood in the room which the twins had just left. They were completely startled by what the maid had said, she had dared to tell them such things about the twins. However, they questioned whether or not what they had been told was true. The twins seemed so defensive when she had told them she would reveal their secret so it must have been true. Though, no-one in the room thought the twins were _that _stupid. Just then Haruhi remembered something she had overheard Kaoru say to Hikaru the day she found out about the maid.

_"We told her where the combination for the safe was, we should never have done that."_

She then remembered that Hikaru had argued back by claiming they were only young. Something really didn't seem right, if they were kids then they could have easily been manipulated by the maid. They would never willingly hand over something as important as a safe combination. Haruhi noticed Kaoru's phone on the ground and picked it up, looking at the screen she could tell- by the fact that it wouldn't turn on- that he could not call the club when he needed help due to the battery being far too low to even operate. As though Hunny-Senpai was on her wave length he sat beside her and whispered.

"I don't think Hika-chan and Kao-chan would willingly give the combination away," Haruhi nodded her head.

"Neither do I, Senpai." The others were quietly discussing the incident in the background and Haruhi had forced herself to ignore them.

"Haru-chan," Said Hunny, giving Haruhi a serious look. "I think you should talk to them, you're closer to them than any of us." Haruhi knew she was close to the twins but she never would have guessed that she was the closest to them. Hearing that Tamaki had been the one to help them move on by including them in the club made her think for definite that- despite the pranks they had pulled on him- Tamaki was the one closest to the twins.

Haruhi nodded-mostly to herself- and left the host club behind her, she knew she would have to raise her game this time. The twins were clearly experiencing a hundred and one emotions at once and she wasn't sure if she would be able to talk to them without them both ignoring her words. Eventually she arrived at the science classroom in which Kaoru and the chairman had recently been locked in during the Halloween test of courage tournament.

As she peered in she noticed the twins sat side by side, Kaoru's hand was on the table and Hikaru covered it with his and gave a nervous squeeze- his entire body was shaking and his head was bowed.

"I'm fine, really." Kaoru whispered to his brother, who just made a small noise that sounded like a grunt in reply. Haruhi moved more into the room and whispered their names. None of them looked at her, they just stared at the desk and pretended no-one else was around.

Haruhi decided that she'd close the door and walk over to the twins without uttering a word. Slowly she placed Kaoru's phone on the table but neither of them seemed to notice. She watched them carefully but could not see their eyes as their bangs covered them.

"You know none of us are judging you, right?" Instantly Hikaru's head looked up and hazel eyes were swimming with tears which threatened to fall. Kaoru merely grabbed his phone and put it in his pocket. "The other day," Haruhi started, she had to explain that she had heard the twins in the Science room. "I heard what you said when you came here after you left the club room. I heard you say you gave her the combination but I also heard that you were only kids when it happened. If you explain to me what happened, I could try and understand."

Kaoru took his hand away from his brothers and squeezed his hands into fists, almost as though he was remembering the whole event in his mind. He also gave a shaky breath as though he refused to let himself cry. Much to Haruhi's surprise, Hikaru was the one who explained the whole event to her.

Once he was done he directed his eyes to his brother, who hadn't changed his position at all since the story had begun. Haruhi was starting to understand; they were kids and looked at this as a game. They had all the innocence any normal child would, they foolishly believed that someone would stick to certain rules and would never try to deceive them. She now understood why this whole thing was so terrible for the twins.

"I understand." Said Haruhi.

"No, you don't," Kaoru's voice was quiet and slow and he sounded tired. As though he had been deprived of sleep for so long. "No-one will but us, that's how it always has been and how it always will be."

"But you were kids, you couldn't have known any better. Wait- why did you have the combination in the first place?"

"Father said that us keeping a copy of the combination would build character, he hoped we would be mature with it and thus be more mature even at that young age, but we failed him and that is why we are ashamed."

"But-" Haruhi started but was quickly cut off by Hikaru.

"Haruhi, we appreciate you trying to help us but... Would you mind if we were left alone?" Haruhi stared at them both for what felt like forever until she eventually pulled a serious face, nodded, and left the room without another word. As she left Kaoru buried his head in his hands and grumbled- between his fingers.

"What're we gonna do?"

-0-

When Haruhi arrived back in the club room the silence almost crushed her ears, normally she would be thrilled that she could have some quiet so she could think about her studies, however, this was serious. Tamaki was sat at the head of the table, his chin balanced on his palm. Hunny and Mori were sat side by side and opposite was Kyoya- who was mostly likely adding the new information about the twins and Miyu into his strange little black book. Haruhi approached and sat herself beside Mori and stared out of the window.

"Ah, Haruhi," Said Kyoya, clearly she had caught his attention when she claimed the seat opposite his own. "I assume you spoke with the twins, did they confirm or deny what the maid had said?" He seemed relatively calm despite what had happened in the space of a few minutes.

"Well to be honest," Haruhi started, wondering how to phrase what the twins had said. "I don't think it's really their fault, more like hers." Haruhi spent the next few minutes explaining- in great detail- exactly what the twins had told her, she waited as the others contemplated how to respond.

"I see," Started Kyoya. "Well, it is quite true that most parents offer their successor crucial information at a young age to teach them responsibility. The twins should have taken better care, I hardly see how the Hitachiin business will flow once the press gets wind of current events." Haruhi was very shocked at Kyoya's response. _'Damn these rich people!' _She thought, bitterly, in her mind.

"But Hika-chan and Kao-chan were only young and they had been lied to, surely they can't be fully blamed." Said Hunny as he looked away from Usa-chan and up at Kyoya, who fixed his glasses on his nose to reveal his closed eyes.

"You would think so, Hunny, but I cannot say the media will be kind enough to take that into consideration. I just wonder whether or not to notify their mother, she might like to come back to Japan after hearing such news." Haruhi's eyes widened as she looked over at Kyoya, she had always thought that the Hitachiin's mother would be at home and live there with Hikaru and Kaoru.

"You mean, she doesn't live in Japan?" She questioned, instead of Kyoya answering she was quite shocked that it was Tamaki who answered her question.

"No, you already know that the Hikaru and Kaoru's mother is a fashion designer, right?" He asked, Haruhi nodded but the king seemed to be glancing somewhere in the room, almost imagining something in his mind. "Well, she is specialising in a new French brand. The name hasn't been mentioned yet but she told me that she was going to be gone for half of the year."

"You see, Haruhi," Said Kyoya in a low and mono-toned voice. "Tamaki had known the twins' mother quite well as she did quite a lot of business in France for a decade, the Hitachiin and Suoh family from then on became quite close."

"Well I don't blame Hika-chan and Kao-chan!" Said Hunny in a surprisingly firm tone. "What about you, Takashi?"

"Yeah..." Takashi replied casually.

"I don't blame them either, in fact," Tamaki rose from his seat and put his hands on the table. "We should support them, daddy won't let any harm come to his boys'!" Haruhi suppressed the erg to role her eyes but only because Tamaki- in his own bizarre way- had demanded that the host club show the twins' some support. Haruhi was very pleased.

-0-

Hikaru and Kaoru carried their briefcases under their arms as they exited the limo and thanked the driver. Before they had the chance to open the doors and walk in, the maids stopped them and addressed them immediately.

"Sirs, the Master requests your presence." Before the twins had time to argue or even enter their home they heard several voices from behind them.

"Hitachiin's, over here!" The twins turned, only to be blinded by a series of rapidly flashing lights, shouts, cries and demands bombarded their ears. The maids, in turn, grabbed the boys' arms and pulled them into the manor and slammed the doors shut.

"The master requests you to meet him in the conference room, immediately." The twins looked at each other and knew that their father had heard about the maid.

"Well, don't we have chance to change or-?" The maids waved their hands to silence Hikaru but the maid closest to Kaoru pulled him forward and inspected the cut on his cheek.

"You will need a plaster on that, here I should have one." The maid went through the small pocket on the front of her uniform and pulled out a small plaster, as Kaoru was taller than her he had to bend down so she could secure the plaster over his cut. She gave a small nod and directed them to the conference room. "Let us take those to your room, sirs." The maids hurried off up the stairs with the briefcases and the twins took a deep breath before pushing open the doors and stepping into the room.

"Father," Started Hikaru, glancing at his brother for a moment before looking back at the silhouette of his father stood by the window with his back to them. "You wanted to see us?" Their father turned around and closed the blinds, he had been watching the press. He approached and his eyes burned holes in the twins. "Dad, we're so sor-" Hikaru did not have the chance to continue before his father's hand was raised before clashing- painfully- with Hikaru's cheek. In shock the Hitachiin boy fell to the ground, Kaoru had jumped back in fright and hadn't caught his brother as he crashed to the ground.

"Hikaru!" Kaoru exclaimed as he knelt by his brother's side and pulled him to his feet. Kaoru moved in front of his brother and tried his hardest to glare at his father- who was actually looking very surprised with his own actions towards his son. He lowered his head, he had always been very fond of his boys and never before had he been violent towards them.

"I'm sorry," He said and bowed his head, when he looked up he recognised the plaster on Kaoru's cheek and became immediately concerned. "Kaoru, what happened to your cheek?" He had always been able to tell the twins apart.

"The maid, Miyu I mean, she was threatening me with a samurai sword but was surprised when the others came in and the blade scratched my cheek. It's no big deal." Their father made a curt nod.

"I am extremely disappointed, boys," He said as he pointed at two chairs, which his sons sat upon. Their father sat in his seat and placed his hands on the table. "I told you that if this secret ever got out that we would have risk losing our company!" His voice had risen in volume. Hikaru rubbed his throbbing cheek and watched his father's movements extra carefully. "Have you seen them all out there? All of them asking about _why _you would- in their words- 'assist a criminal'!"

The boys looked at each other, completely furious with themselves. They did not know what to do anymore, everything that could go wrong in their lives _was _going wrong all at once. They had no control over anything anymore. "I'm debating whether or not I should call your mother about this."

"No," Said Hikaru. "She's still in France; she's been looking forward to it for ages. We don't want to upset her."

"Well it's a bit late for that, isn't it?" His father flared, his voice at such a loud volume that it echoed of the walls and forced the twins to be quiet. "We could lose everything because you two were careless," Their father, who had risen from his seat after Hikaru's words, now lowered back into his chair and rubbed his temple. "I knew we shouldn't have trusted you with such information, you were incapable of keeping it safe." He was speaking quietly now and the twins felt even more disgusted about themselves.

"Dad," Said Hikaru in a whisper. "I-It was only supposed to be a game, we didn't think th-"

"Be quiet, you incompetent boy!" His father barked once more, Hikaru side-glanced at Kaoru to see his eyes closed tightly, attempting to block out his father's words. "None of this has or is a game, how can you hope to be our family's successor if you take everything as a game?"

"We know we were wrong!" Kaoru said, raising his voice loud enough to be heard. "But what do you want us to do?"

"I want you to get to your rooms, the both of you; you've done quite enough already!"

"Fine!" Yelled Kaoru as he jumped from his seat and took off out of the room. Hikaru followed suite, though much slower than his brother had. He saw the maids politely asking the butlers to get rid of the reporters. Hikaru then hurried upstairs and into his and Kaoru's room, where his brother was pacing beside the window- muttering under his breath.

"K-Kaoru, are you alright?" Hikaru stuttered; he was surprised to see Kaoru's hazel eyes alight with malice and rage. They stood in silence for a moment, Hikaru had tried multiple times to get his brother to speak but it wasn't working for some reason. "Kaoru, bloody hell, just answer me!" He growled in frustration. Kaoru's eyes snapped to his brother in an instant and for a second Hikaru felt like he was completely detached from his brothers wave length. He did not know what he was thinking.

"Why should I?" He said in a low and haunting voice. "I have _nothing _to say to you or anyone else!" Hikaru was taken aback. In the past- mainly in middle school- Kaoru was more into isolating himself from everyone else, whereas Hikaru did not seem to mind. Surely Kaoru wasn't thinking of isolating himself from- not just his friends- but his twin brother as well.

What a huge and confusing mess Hikaru had found himself and his brother in.

_Coming up: Kaoru reveals why he is ignoring Hikaru which ultimately leads to a fight between the two. The host club orders the press to leave the twins alone at school and everyone is shocked when Kaoru isolates himself from his brother and his friends- because of this, Tamaki is afraid Kaoru will leave the host club._


	7. Isolation

"Kaoru," Started Hikaru, staring at his twin as though he had no idea who he was. "What is the matter with you, are you angry with me?" Kaoru looked his brother in the eyes and the fact that he did not look guilty for worrying his brother, told Hikaru that he was angry. "You are, but why?"

"Why do you think, Hikaru?" His voice was quite but the cold tone he used was like a knife to Hikaru, he was so very confused, he could only sit there and watch his twin closely. "This could all have been avoided!" Kaoru's hand rubbed the back of his neck as he started to pace on the opposite side of the room from his twin. "I should never have let you talk me into playing that game with the maid." He muttered bitterly. Hikaru's eyes widened, he remembered exactly what happened before they played the game with Miyu when they were young.

OURAN-HSHC-OURAN-HSHC

"_I don't know, Hikaru," Said Kaoru, looking uncertainly at the combination in his brother's hands. "Daddy told us to keep it safe." Hikaru gave a small laugh and put a hand on Kaoru's shoulder, offering a small smile of reassurance. _

"_Don't worry, Kaoru, we won't actually give it to her. We'll just see if she wins the game." Kaoru still looked very uncertain. _

"_No, I don't want to!" He was genuinely afraid of something going wrong and it being their fault, he never was as outgoing as his brother and he knew that. Hikaru gave him a frustrated look._

"_C'mon, I _promise _that nothing bad will happen; we'll hide it before she has chance. Trust me!" With those two words Kaoru smiled and nodded. "I'll put the security button around my neck and you take the combination. It'll work out!"Uncertainly, Kaoru obliged and took the paper. Together the two snuck out of the room and rushed to find the maid, who was busily trying to work the safe._

OURAN-HSHC-OURAN-HSHC

"Look, Kaoru, I'm sorry that I talked you into it, but-" Hikaru did not have the chance to finish his apology because Kaoru suddenly cut across his brother's words.

"No, it's just empty words, Hikaru!" Hikaru had never seen his brother this angry before and especially towards him. "This is all your fault, I told you something would go wrong but you and your stubbornness wouldn't listen!" Hikaru stared at his brother for a few moments, trying to take in what had been said. Deep down he knew he was to blame but he did not expect Kaoru to force all that blame onto him.

"Well you're to blame too," Hikaru spat as he raised himself from his seat on the bed and glared at Kaoru, who was returning the look. Almost daring him to question his words. "You didn't have to listen to me but you _did. _You can't blame it all on me, Kaoru!"

"I went along with it because you're my brother, you didn't listen to me and I didn't want you to face the consequences on your own!" Kaoru barked, closing the space between him and his brother in two quick strides. Their faces were inches apart.

"I guess what you're saying is you made a mistake when trusting me?" Hikaru said in a hollow whisper.

"No, I made a mistake from the very beginning. I shouldn't have bothered with you in the first place." Kaoru's voice was low and grave, Hikaru's eyes widened at the statement as he realised what his twin was implying.

"Kaoru, I'm sorry, please, we're twins. We can't be at each other's throats like this." Hikaru whispered, not wanting to lose the only person who knew how he was feeling. Kaoru's voice was above a whisper but quieter than a shout. His words were clear.

"You're not my twin; you just hurt me like she did." Hikaru froze at that. It was one thing for Kaoru to blame him but never would he say such sharp words to his brother and to his face as well. He could see tears brimming Kaoru's eyes and he knew his brother was trying to convince himself he wanted to be alone when the truth was far from that. Hikaru reached a hand out but Kaoru pushed his brother away, Hikaru fell onto the bed and stared at his twin- who was staring out the window.

The next day was quite awkward for the twins, they got up and washed and dressed but when they went to breakfast Kaoru suddenly turned away. Hikaru watched him and he could tell his brother was staring at him so hard that he might as well be seeing right through him.

They had grabbed the limo out front but Hikaru had noticed that Kaoru pushed himself as close to the window as he could, trying to block out his brother completely. Hikaru had eventually learned- about half way between his home and school- that Kaoru would not speak to him even if he did apologise. When they reached the school the chauffeur opened the door and bowed as Kaoru climbed out, Hikaru following behind.

"Kaoru, Kaoru, wait!" Hikaru yelled as he got a good grip on his bag and ran after his brother, landing his hand on the younger twin's shoulder- spinning him around. Kaoru looked seriously annoyed and shrugged his brother off. "You can't ignore me, how're we going to do our act at the club? Milord won't be worth living with if we skip it."

"Well then," Kaoru's voice was low and dangerous. A few girls had gathered to watch the excitement. Two girls had giggled and ran off, whispering about finding Tamaki to show him what was happening. "I guess we'll have to do something about that, won't we?"

"Kaoru, this is insane. Why are we even fighting?" He looked at the girls and in an undertone he whispered, so no-one else would hear. "What happened with Miyu was years ago, we can't change it."

"No, we can't, and that's because I was stupid enough to trust you!" Kaoru replied in a surprisingly calm tone. The matter of fact way in which his brother had spoken was like a scream in his ears. He hated arguing with his brother, but this was and is ridiculous.

"Kaoru..." Hikaru whispered as he raised a hand to touch his shoulder, comfortingly, though he was surprised- as was everyone else- when Kaoru pushed his brother hard, resulting in Hikaru colliding with the hard cement beneath his feet. The girls gasped, some screamed and some cried but none of them ran away. Eventually the other members of the host club arrived and the girls stepped to one side to allow them access to the brothers.

"Care to explain what's going on here?" Asked Kyoya as he walked behind Tamaki with his hands in his pockets.

"Are Kao-chan and Hika-chan fighting?" Asked Mitsukuni as he tugged on Takashi's blazer, without looking at his cousin, Takashi said.

"It seems so..." Kaoru avoided any eye contact he could as he shoved his way past Tamaki and Kyoya. Hikaru tried to avoid eye contact out of pure embarrassment. Haruhi decided she would help Hikaru and so she approached him with her hand outstretched. He took it and stood to his feet, grabbing his bag which had also fallen to the floor and then walked away from the club, avoiding bumping into anyone like his brother had. As he walked away Tamaki ran a hand through his hair.

"Their world is growing smaller," He whispered. "We have to help them." Hikaru was still walking when he suddenly heard people yelling his surname; he turned around slowly and was- once again- almost blinded by a hundred flashing cameras and deafened by hundreds of booming voices. He brought his hands to his face and squinted at the mass of people being blocked by the school gates, which the host club were attempting to close.

"Get out of here!" Yelled Haruhi, not caring about how undignified she sounded by yelling at the press.

"Leave him alone!" Tamaki yelled, following Haruhi's lead.

"Wait, he's Tamaki Suoh!" Said one random reporter.

"The Suoh heir!" Another yelled.

"Mr. Suoh," Said the first man, getting ready with his pad and pen. "Your comment on the maid Miyu?"

"My comment," Said Tamaki, leaning between the bars of the gate. "Is that you should leave the Hitachiin's alone." Hikaru turned to look at the host club members, completely shocked at how supportive they were of him and his brother.

"I don't like people upsetting my friends!" Mitsukuni said in a low and dangerous voice. The press looked at him and cried out his name repeatedly. They did not need to be taught a lesson by a human weapon like the Haninozuka heir.

Hikaru stood in awkward silence, staring at the floor for a few seconds before Tamaki ran over to him and flung his arms around the younger boys frame. Squeezing him tight, despite Hikaru's protest.

"It'll be ok, Hikaru, we'll find Kaoru! Kyoya will talk to him, right, mommy?" Tamaki said, turning his head to the shadow king, who approached with his large black book tucked under his arm and phone out and in his hand.

"Yes, we will," Hikaru was surprised that Kyoya had actually agreed to help him out. Then he wondered, what was in it for the shadow king to gain? "As without Kaoru the club's brotherly love package would not be on offer. Thus losing more customers and less profit to be gained." Hikaru groaned, of course Kyoya had to have such a selfish reason behind helping Hikaru talk to his brother. Hikaru wiggled out of Tamaki's grip and walked away from the group, ignoring the clubs king's pleas for him to not leave.

-0-

Tamaki called the club together for a meeting but neither Hikaru nor Kaoru had bothered to show up. The meeting was mostly about them anyway, they had moved past thinking about the twins past and were now wondering what they could do to get through to them.

The atmosphere around the table was not very pleasant, everyone was moping and if not that then staying silent and looking anywhere in which they would not catch anyone's eye. Kyoya- however- seemed relatively calm as he jotted notes down in his black book, not appearing to be swayed by the tension which drifted around the room.

"Kyoya," Said Tamaki as he watched the shadow king sitting in his cool demeanour. "How're you so calm?"

"I have no reason not to be, the twin's antics are only my concern when they affect the club, therefore, I need to work out what to do without them, before the profit drops." He spoke in mono tone and carried on writing in his book.

"It's sad to see Hika-chan like that; he's always been relying on Kao-chan..." Said Mitsukuni, in which Takashi gave a nod in response.

"Really?" Said Haruhi, with mild surprise. "I always thought it was Kaoru who relied on Hikaru?" Hikaru certainly seemed to be the most confident of the pair and Kaoru always seemed to follow in his older brother's footsteps, in their relationship it always struck Haruhi that Hikaru was mainly relied on by Kaoru. Hunny just smiled a little and stared into the face of Usa-chan as he spoke.

"No, a lot of people think so, but that's not how it works," Said Hunny lightly. "Hikaru has always been really sensitive but Kaoru has always been independent, he allows Hikaru to make choices and all because he wants Hikaru to be able to stand on his own two feet."

"It's true," Said Tamaki, who was resting his chin on his palm. "Back when I brought them to the club, I noticed that Kaoru seemed more eager to get to know us but tried to hide it as Hikaru showed his fear of meeting and learning about us. It's contradictory really that it works like that. But Kaoru is actually a lot stronger than he makes out. I know Hikaru knows that and that's why he hates to fight with him, as well as the fact that they're twins."

-0-

Haruhi made sure to keep a watchful eye on the twins for the rest of the day. She walked into class 1-A and noticed everyone out of their seats and whispering- she saw Hikaru sit down at his desk and wave away questions that were asked by their classmates. Haruhi could not see Kaoru at all so she turned to a boy in their class who was beside her. Renge was bouncing by Hikaru's side with a pen and some paper.

"Fill me in on your emotions, Hikaru; I do so want to include it in my next Doujinshi!" Hikaru groaned. Many young ladies who regularly requested the twins led her away. The woe coming from Hikaru wasn't exciting to the other girls, it made them sympathetic.

"Miss Houshakuji, I think we should leave him alone." The girls led her away, much to Renge's annoyance. Hikaru looked relieved to have her leave him alone, he nodded his appreciation to the girls.

"Where's Kaoru?" He looked at her.

"Oh, Fujioka, he's over at the back." He replied and pointed at the window, the furthest away from everyone else. Haruhi approached and saw Kaoru sat on the windowsill and staring out of the window, his head resting on the glass. She stood beside him for a few moments until he noticed she was there.

"Haruhi," He said absently, not really planning on saying anything else. Once she realized this she sat on the windowsill too but on the opposite side to him. He looked up at her and sighed.

"What happened, you and Hikaru are in a fight?" She asked him, drinking in his reactions so she could try and form some sort of answer even if he didn't provide her with one. Kaoru looked out the window and spoke quietly to her, because everyone else was at the front of the room no-one could overhear them. He told her about all that was said in the argument and how mad and frustrated he was with Hikaru. "You know you can't blame all of this on Hikaru, right?"

"Yeah... I know," He responded softly.

"You know, Kaoru, you and him really understand each other completely. Others can say they do but you won't believe them will you?" He looked up at her, quite surprised that Haruhi- who was always blunt and unresponsive- could place his feelings exactly. "You and Hikaru need each other; it'd be a shame to lose him over something that happened in the past, wouldn't it?" He looked at her, the shocked look had subsided. He didn't speak; eventually someone else caught their attention.

"Alright, we have a lot of work to get through but first the student council has some matters to discuss." The Sensei said as she entered the room and gestured to the class president. Haruhi took her place beside Hikaru and Kaoru took his place in his seat to the right of Haruhi. The lesson dragged by as the class president spoke nonstop about the changes to the school menus.

-0-

Later it was time for the host club to meet in the music room for their regular session of hosting. Today the club was cosplaying a fantastic anime called _"Death Note". _ It was obvious to the club that Kyoya would be perfect to cosplay as Kira and the black book he held seemed to complete his costume completely.

Hunny-senpai seemed perfect for the role of L who always seemed to eat cake and anything with sugar in it. This excited him and he immediately went into character.

Takashi cosplayed the part of Kanzo Mogi, more for the fact that he rarely ever spoke, which seemed enough for Tamaki when he was handing out parts.

Tamaki took the part of Hirokazu Ukita purely because the character fully interested him and he loved the costume he would be allowed to wear.

Haruhi- much to her dismay- was presented with the part of Misa Amane purely because Tamaki wanted to see Haruhi play a female part and to be more immature so he could hope to allow her the freedom to be free and fun. However, he didn't acknowledge that this meant that Haruhi's character was in love with Kira- Kyoya's character.

Because the twins were fighting Tamaki didn't expect to see them at the club but he also didn't know which characters from death note fitted with the twins personalities. In the end he settled for a wizard costume of a film series called "Harry Potter" which was located in the United Kingdom. Tamaki spoke enough English to make out that the personalities of the red headed twins in that film matched with the twins in the club. No-one else had ever heard of this in Japan because not many people bothered with England, unless it was to do with the gardens of tea sets.

Hikaru walked into the club room alone, he smiled slightly at Kyoya's costume. "Nice outfit, Senpai, I always thought that book you carried was a death note." He chuckled a little at his own joke, the corners of Kyoya's mouth turned up slightly in a smile but then he regained fast and said.

"Don't be ridiculous, Hikaru," Hikaru shrugged and smiled a little. "Now then, where is Kaoru? You both need to get into your costumes before the guests arrive." Hikaru lost his smile.

"I thought Kaoru was here, he walked off after the last lesson, I thought he came here." Kyoya kept frowning, his eyes filled with sympathy which were clever masked by his glasses. "What are our costumes anyway?"

"According to Tamaki, you will both be cosplaying as two British twin wizards from a show called '_Harry Potter' _your costumes are in the changing rooms." Hikaru raised an eyebrow at Kyoya.

"British wizards? How will the guests know what that reference is and how do we play them?"

"Tamaki tells me that these twins are mischievous and close just like you and Kaoru, just be yourselves. The twins you will impersonate do not do brotherly love but if Kaoru is to show up you will. The wizards are called 'Fred and George Weasley' they're both commoners as far as I can tell." Hikaru rolled his eyes and went to change, mumbling something like.

"Tamaki and his weird obsession with different countries."

-0-

The host club session had gone great, despite the fact that Kaoru hadn't showed up at all Hikaru had managed to somehow keep his guests entertained with all cliché lines he expected a wizard would say to a young lady. According to Tamaki he had got his character perfect, Hikaru didn't really care, he wanted to go and try and talk some sense into Kaoru.

"Hikaru," Said Kyoya. Hikaru turned, now in his school uniform.

"The costume is in the changing room, Senpai." Kyoya nodded.

"Thank you, though that is not what I was about to say. Where is Kaoru? He did not show up at all for the club today, many of our guests were very upset to not see his presence."

"I'm sorry, Kyoya, but I don't know." He said sadly as he sighed and walked to the doors and out. Tamaki walked up to Kyoya.

"You don't think Kaoru is going to quit the host club, do you?" He asked Kyoya, who glanced at him.

"Doesn't it seem selfish of you to worry of that when you should worry about his welfare?" Tamaki looked at Kyoya with a solemn look on his face.

"But you don't understand, Kyoya, if Kaoru quits the club. I'm worried that he'll convert back to isolating himself but this time without Hikaru." Kyoya stopped what he was writing. Only the two second years were in the club room at this point.

"I find it hard to believe that Kaoru would isolate himself and lock Hikaru out." He paused for a moment. "Then again, he always has been the stronger of the two."

"That's my point," Tamaki pressed. "We have to figure this out and help them, they're our friends!" He declared, already thinking up thousands of possibilities.

"We will let Hikaru deal with this," Said Kyoya in a calm tone as he went back to jotting things down in his big black book. As he finished writing he pushed his glasses up on his nose higher. "Because Hikaru is the big brother." And with that Kyoya closed his book and walked out of the room, leaving Tamaki stood in silence.

_A/N: I am so sorry this took so long but I've been very busy recently. I wanted to add more into the host club part but sadly I wouldn't have time to finish it off before I started school again. _

_Coming soon: The maid is sentenced to more years in prison for breaking out. Kyoya's family visits the Hitachiin's to discuss business and the twins are made to see the end to their foolish bickering from an unlikely source. _


End file.
